Wild Garlic Scotch Eggs

I made these scotch eggs yesterday. The coating is made of chopped wild garlic leaves, bread crumbs and ground black pepper with beaten egg to bind it all together. It was an easy recipe of my own creation to use up some of our growing surplus of eggs. Wild garlic is one of my favourite spring foraging foods though the time to pick them this year is coming to an end. Wild garlic grows in woodlands and goes through most of its life cycle before the trees are fully into leaf. I made some more today and filmed it so watch this space.

Pea sticks

I planted peas a couple of weeks ago and they are now beginning to grow. However, having seen half a pea crop disappear last year before anything even started to grow, this time I was a bit more canny about it and ensured the bed was covered in hawthorn branches and sticks. They keep off both the hens and the wild birds. Once the peas have fully sprouted and grown, they will be able to grow around the branches as support. It looks a bit unwieldly but it does seem to be working.

Weekend round up

We have had a week of lovely sunshine. Not a cloud in the sky for seven days. What a change from the wettest April in 100 years. But we have a great deal of catching up to do. Not much planting was done in April and early May as it was too wet so I've spent quite a bit of the last week getting seeds into the ground. Peas were the first to go into the ground. This is an important crop, along with beans, for those seeking to become self-sufficient. They are good for protein and vitamins. Carrot seeds were then planted. We have rather neglected growing carrots in the past, a mistake we are not intending repeating. As well as being a great source of vitamin A, it contains minerals and fibre. They also store well so we can use them throughout the winter when fresh vegetables from the allotment and foraging are very limited. Also planted are beetroot and more onions and shortly I will be planting parsnips, turnips and swedes. In other words, quite a few root crops. Meanwhile we have spent part of today sorting out the beehives. Earlier this year we merged two hives together as one had lost its queen. Today we were able to split them back into 2 hives. One will be weaker than the other to start with but hopefully will be up and running properly over the next few weeks. Our third hive was also checked but we found no queen cells in it. No chance of it swarming therefore, but no possibility of being able to artificially swarm it to create another hive. The super however was filling with honey so very soon we will be able to get our first honey crop. I'm certainly looking forward that that.

Crushed egg shells

Previously I have avoided giving egg shells to the hens to eat but some of you have been in touch to tell me my fears that it will encourage them to eat their own eggs are unfounded. We have recently had a few incidents of shellless eggs and in one case, a very small egg was laid. This pointed to insufficient calcium in their diets despite providing them with lots of grit. One of the neighbouring allotment holders suggested I roast the shells and grind them in a pestal and mortar. This also gets around the problem of feeding chickens untreated kitchen waste. Anyway, the video shows all.

Using up the artichokes

I can see why people only dig up Jerusalem artichokes when they need them. They don't store too well. I dug mine up a couple of months ago but many have gone mouldy or have dried out. So I am using up what's left. Tonight I made artichoke and onion soup. The rest I will make into artichoke gratin. For this latter recipe I hope to use an old wartime recipe for mock fish pie. I hope to film this one so watch this space.

Feeding the bees as a precaution

The rotten weather we have had recently, with a few okay days in between, is not good for the bees. Though our recent checks of the hives shows them to be in good health, we have decided to feed the bees. A small amount of fondant was added to each hive. I'm still looking forward to getting some honey.....at some point soon.

Nettle and wild garlic flan

Spring brings with it two of my favourite wild foods: nettles and wild garlic. Nettles in particular are a versatile leaf that can be used in soups, stews, to make tea or in this instance, to make flans. Wild garlic leaves can be used in salads, soup and, yes, you guessed it, flans. I made the 3 flans below recently using our own eggs. All contain nettle and wild garlic leaves. To make, role out some short crust pastry into flan dishes, put in a layer of nettle and wild garlic leaves, a modest amount of chopped onions as an optional extra, beat up sufficient eggs to cover the leaves and then put in an oven at 180C for 25 minutes. Eat hot or cold.